Bobcats week: Jan. 13-19

Sunday

Jan 12, 2014 at 12:01 AMJan 12, 2014 at 9:07 AM

THIS WEEK’S GAMES:

Tuesday – New York, 7 p.m.

Wednesday – at Philadelphia, 7 p.m.

Friday – at Orlando, 7 p.m.

Saturday – Miami, 7:30 p.m.

MARQUEE MATCHUP:

Saturday at home against Miami – The third shot to end the second-longest losing streak to a rival opponent in the Bobcats’ history. Charlotte hasn’t beaten Miami since March 9, 2009 – a streak of 14 straight defeats. Only the Dallas Mavericks’ 16-game win streak (in their first 16 games against Charlotte) has been longer. How long has it been since that last Charlotte victory? In the last Bobcats’ victory – a 83-78 win in Charlotte – Larry Brown was coach, Stephen Jackson was the leading scorer (17), Gerald Wallace the leading rebounder (17) and Raymond Felton was tops in assists (12). Only one current Bobcats player was on the roster that night – then-rookie Gerald Henderson, who went scoreless in four minutes as a reserve.

NOTABLE:

The slumping Bobcats had climbed as high as sixth in the Eastern Conference earlier this season before the current losing skein – eight losses out of nine and three straight defeats. The slump has dropped the Bobcats into ninth place in the Eastern Conference entering Sunday’s games, but they’re only one half-game out of eighth – and only 5 1-2 games out of third….

The Bobcats enter Tuesday’s home game ranked 25th (out of 30 teams) in attendance with an average of 14,742….

Having the Heat in town on Saturday will no doubt enhance those attendance numbers. In the franchise’s 10 seasons, the Heat have been a top three home draw eight times, including this year….